Editorial – Disaster waiting to happen

CITY government authorities should expedite action, and quick, on the complaint of residents of barangay Mandug against continuous earth quarrying  activities in their neighborhood, particularly in the boundary of Barangay Indangan and Barangay Acacia.
The quarrying operations had gone on in the upper part of sitio Danaw not far from the Rancho Palos Verdes, a  high-end golf course and country club. In danger of being adversely affected is a community of 200 Muslim families living nearby.
So far, the quarrying has allegedly caused flooding in Mandug twice last year. In a petition lodged before the officer of Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio, the complainants said that Mandug gets the bulk of floodwaters from sitio Danaw, not Indangan and Acacia.
Mandug is the same barangay which is also at risk due to perennial quarrying in the Davao River bed. The continuing erosion of the river bank due partly to this quarrying also threatens DDF (Davao Development Foundation) Village, a thickly-populated low-cost housing project in the barangay.
The city government, through the City Enviroment and Resources Office headed by lawyer-engineer Joey Felizarta, should treat the petition with urgency.
A quick ocular inspection of the place is in order. Of course, this is not to say that the rights of the quarrying operators identified as McPJay San Pedro, Ambao Magulintang, Platinum Corporation, Robert Uy and a certain Baguhin be ignored in the investigation. They should be heard, too, by the CENRO team tasked by Inday Sara to conduct the inquiry.
In the end, what is important is that city authorities can timely avert another disaster that may just be waiting to happen.